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Unlike Blinkbox Movies and Blinkbox Music, Tesco hasn't found a buyer for its underperforming Blinkbox Books service. We expected the e-book platform to quietly fade into the night, along with customers' purchases, but it seems Tesco has a parting gift for bookworms that embraced its Kindle alternative. The beleaguered supermarket is teaming up with Kobo so that users can transition their Blinkbox libraries to the rival platform, free of charge. Tesco says it'll email users in the next two to three weeks with a special code for unlocking their purchases inside Kobo; the latter's library should also mirror Blinkbox's exactly, so readers won't lose any books in the move. At this stage it's not clear if any money is changing hands, but there are obvious benefits for both parties; Tesco now has a better chance of avoiding customer backlash, while Kobo gets to pick up a wave of new users. Of course, Kobo already has an Android app too, so it should be a fairly easy transition for Hudl owners who want to keep Tesco's tablet as their primary e-reader.

Tesco has had a tough old time of late, with falling sales and a fresh investigation into its accounts. The battered supermarket needs to turn itself around, and fast, so it's been looking to offload any nonessential services that may have been dragging down its balance sheet. Unsurprisingly, that means its various Blinkbox offerings have been some of the first to face the chop. After selling Blinkbox Movies to TalkTalk, Tesco announced yesterday it had auctioned off Blinkbox Music and plans to close Blinkbox Books. The supermarket still has its Hudl tablets, of course, but some of the more interesting services that come pre-installed are now no longer under its control. Clearly, Tesco just couldn't make enough money from them, but any chance it had of fixing the problem has now been lost.

Since October 2014, Tesco has done all it can to rid itself of its loss-making digital download service Blinkbox. TalkTalk came to its rescue, picking up Blinkbox Movies and its broadband services earlier this month, but the fate of its Music and Books businesses remained unclear -- until today. In an announcement this morning, the supermarket giant confirmed it has offloaded Blinkbox Music to Guvera, a music streaming company that has offered users access to its free ad-supported service since 2008.

Tesco has been struggling of late, so its decision to sell Blinkbox to TalkTalk was hardly a shock. The supermarket giant isn't a technology company, at least not traditionally, and the video streaming service never really struck a chord with the British public. However, TalkTalk reportedly spent a smooth £5 million for the platform, so clearly it thinks the service still has some potential. If that's the case, what exactly is next for Blinkbox?

It's been a long time coming, but Tesco has finally offloaded its loss-making streaming service Blinkbox. At the end of the last year, it looked increasingly likely that TalkTalk has positioned itself as the favourite to buy the service, and today the quad-play provider confirmed a deal has been reached. According to TalkTalk, Blinkbox's integration with its existing TV business will "begin immediately," with the benefits of the merger expected to show themselves by the end of the year.

It's no secret that Tesco is looking to offload Blinkbox, its loss-making streaming service, but it looks like the struggling supermarket giant may have finally found a buyer. According to the Financial Times, TalkTalk is now favourite to relieve Tesco of its movie rental platform, and while talks are still ongoing, a deal could be announced as soon as next week. The news comes almost a month after it emerged Vodafone was looking to buy Blinkbox, which would have allowed the carrier to move beyond its current partnerships with Sky and Netflix. With hundreds of thousands more customers on its books, TalkTalk would instantly gain a hold in the UK streaming market if it can reach an agreement, giving it more leverage against Sky, Virgin Media and what becomes of the potential £12.5 billion merger between BT and EE.

When offline playback arrived for Blinkbox's video streaming service on the iPad, we knew that Android support couldn't be far behind. After all, Tesco has plenty of Hudl 2 tablets to sell this Christmas, which all heavily promote its services. So for your next commute or agonising car journey with the little ones, Blinkbox now lets you queue up some sweet flicks in advance. Unlike Apple's tablets, you can both purchase titles and manage your downloads from inside the Blinkbox app, although offline playback isn't supported on Android 4.4.3 and higher. Early Lollipop adopters might be left out in the cold, but Tesco hopes to make amends with new movies via Entertainment Film Distributors, including American Hustle, Transcendence and Her -- plenty to keep you occupied during the wet and chilly winter months.

Tesco's finances might not be holding up too well as of late, but from technological standpoint, the company is certainly ticking all the right boxes. After it debuted the impressive Hudl2 tablet last month, the supermarket giant is now switching its focus to better connecting its customers. Today, Tesco switched live free superfast BT WiFi inside 806 of its stores, replacing the old service powered by O2 and ramping up speeds to 76Mb in available areas. By upgrading its connectivity, the company hopes you'll download more Clubcard vouchers, obtain product information and look up recipes while doing your weekly shop. More importantly, it could also provide a welcome backup for when you encounter those dreaded mobile signal blackspots in some of its branches.

A supermarket turned tablet maker doesn't sound like the wisest of career progressions. Tesco's not your average supermarket, though. When you consider the Tesco machine also operates video- and music-streaming services, an e-book store and an online emporium selling everything from garden furniture to jewelry, having a low-cost, own-brand tablet to publicise them on makes a considerable amount of sense. Amazon makes it work with a similar potpourri of digital properties, after all. Tesco first explored the idea with its £119 Hudl tablet, launched around this time last year. And, having shifted over three quarters of a million units during that period, it's hoping to keep the ball rolling with the new Hudl2, which boasts a bigger display, upgraded hardware, a more refined look and a similarly wallet-friendly £129 price tag. Tesco's still a fish in the tablet game, and yet, with the Hudl2, it's managed to deliver not just another great value product, but also the best affordable slate on the market right now.

Tesco's Blinkbox video streaming service might be facing a less-than-certain future, but that doesn't mean the supermarket giant is ready concede defeat just yet. Mirroring similar moves by Amazon and Sky, the company today announced become the first major UK retailer to let customers grab digital copies of their DVDs and Blu-rays via Ultraviolet, which can be stored inside a Blinkbox account. Tesco isn't just limiting the locker service to movies bought in its own supermarkets, either, making all of your Ultraviolet-enabled titles available to instantly stream or download across a wide number of devices, including the new Hudl2. To get started, you'll need to create your Ultraviolet library, link your Blinkbox account and then get streamin'.

Tesco's Hudl2 tablet is now on sale, and as is typically the way when a next-gen product usurps its predecessor, the supermarket's cut the price of the first Hudl to just £79. When the Hudl2 was announced, Tesco said it would keep selling its first tablet, which launched at £119 before later being discounted to £99, until it had shifted all remaining stock. Now you can actually buy the Hudl2 for £129, Tesco's thought it best to make its other tablet a more attractive offer. It's now a year old, so you're not exactly getting 2014 hardware, but if you're after a couch-browsing companion or something for the kids to poke at, £79 is nothing to shrug at. It can also be picked up in-store or online for half that value in Tesco Clubcard points, so that's something to consider if you've got a loaded account and a tablet-sized hole in your life. If you're thinking the Hudl2 is more your bag, however, then keep your eyes peeled for our review of Tesco's new offering next week.

Suitably impressed by last week's Hudl2 launch? Tesco is now ready to take your money. The supermarket giant has opened orders on its Direct store, allowing you to put aside one (or more) of its eight vividly coloured tablets for pick up tomorrow. For £129, you'll enjoy an 8.3-inch Full HD display, 1.83GHz Intel Atom quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, stock Android 4.4.2 KitKat, 5-megapixel and 1.2-megapixel rear and front-facing cameras, Dolby-optimised rear-facing speakers, HDMI-out, dual-band Wi-Fi, 16GB of internal storage (with support for 32GB microSD) and upto 8 hours on a full battery charge. Tesco is currently offering 33 percent off Hudl2 cases if you redeem the relevant eCoupon, but make sure you cash in those Clubcard points to bring the total cost down even further.

For Britain's supermarket chains, it's no longer just a case of selling food, it's about how you can do it better. Tesco has long thought about how technology can give it an edge over its rivals, but it's now experimenting with robotics, wearables and cognitive computing in an attempt to secure future success. That's according to Mike McNamara, Tesco's chief information officer, who revealed that the company has become the latest in a long line of retailers to leverage IBM's Watson supercomputer to explore new ideas using old data. Tesco's Labs division, the team behind its Google Glass app and other tech trials, fed Watson "thousands" of recipes and ingredients and asked it to come up with some unique meal ideas. The supermarket is already trialling smartwatches in a bid to better manage stock, but it looks increasingly likely that machines will take over such jobs in the future. McNamara believes robots that can gauge depth and height could free up time for stockroom associates, but that also brings another danger -- the risk that they'd replace workers completely.

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futureibmtescowatsonTue, 07 Oct 2014 10:54:00 -040021|20973919http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/03/tesco-hudl-hands-on/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/03/tesco-hudl-hands-on/http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/03/tesco-hudl-hands-on/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget#commentsTesco announced its Hudl2 tablet today, and by now you already know what it's about and how it stacks up against the original Hudl. Well, we've had a chance to play around with the device, and it's immediately clear this is a significant upgrade. Despite a notably larger 8.3-inch screen, the Hudl2 saves on width and thickness, with a taller frame accommodating all those extra pixels. The chunky bezels of Tesco's first tablet have all but disappeared, giving the Hudl2 a much sleeker look that betrays its £129 price point.

The Hudl2 has finally been unveiled. Sticking to what it knows, Tesco has retained much of what made the original Hudl unique, but it's now bigger, thinner and a lot more powerful. Wondering how the specs compare to its predecessor, though? Well, we're glad you asked because we've laid everything out for you below.

A popular supermarket chain isn't the first place you'd expect to find an own-brand tablet, but with its low price and a prime spot next to the beans, Tesco's Hudl has sold over 750,000 units since launch. While plans to also enter the smartphone racket have been put on hold, today Tesco's spilled all the details on its second-gen slate: the Hudl2.

When Tesco launched Clubcard TV early last year, everything we saw suggested that the ad-supported streaming service would be nothing more than an experiment. That hunch has proved accurate, because the company has said it will shutter the free service on October 28th. According to a Clubcard TV support page, Tesco didn't get "the level of repeat usage [it] had hoped for," so it'll close the service in order to concentrate on its more established resource, Blinkbox. The supermarket giant will still offer Clubcard points alongside Blinkbox movie purchases, though, which will suit those who intend to watch films on the new (and supposedly bigger) Hudl 2 when it's unveiled later this week.

In addition to announcing its smartphone plans had been put on ice, Tesco said at the start of September its second-generation Hudl tablet would be revealed in a matter of weeks. And today we've received a not-so-subtle invite from the supermarket chain for a morning event on October 3rd. Considering the invite is blazoned with the hashtag #Letshudl, it's pretty clear we'll be introduced to Tesco's next tablet on that date, and we'll be there to bring you the news. The supermarket's dedicated Hudl page now has a new section where you can register for updates on the Hudl 2, and a colour-changing banner also suggests the device will arrive in multiple hues, or will at least have several vibrant cases. Tesco already let slip the second-gen slate improves "on just about every area of its predecessor, from screen size to speed, design and accessories." One of the Hudl's best features was its low price-point, so let's hope this successor continues that trend and isn't marked up so Tesco can actually make some of the money it's been pulling out of thin air.

Tesco makes its own affordable range of everyday products for penny-conscious consumers, and last year the supermarket extended this concept to tablets. The Hudl slate wasn't just cheap, but also the perfect vehicle for showcasing Tesco's various streaming services. Despite a few hardware teething problems, the Hudl has gone on to sell over half a million units, prompting the commission of a sequel earlier this year. Alongside the Hudl 2, Tesco also said it would launch an affordable Android smartphone, but now the chain's announced those plans have been shelved while it focuses on the new tablet, which is due out "in the next few weeks." As Robin Terrell, Group Multi-Channel Director at Tesco explains, since the plan was revealed "the mobile market has become even more competitive," leading the supermarket to "put the phone on hold."

While supermarkets have gone mobile to help you order bread and milk while on the go, wearable tech has remained largely unexplored. Not wanting to be left in the chilled section, Tesco gave its R&D boffins Google Glass and tasked them with helping customers order their groceries while barely lifting a finger. The result was a new prototype Glass app that lets the wearer scan a barcode to quickly add products to their virtual basket or find out their nutritional information. Tesco admits that it would struggle with the rigors of a weekly shop, but says the app perfect for "micro interactions" -- i.e. that time when you realise you've just used the last piece of toilet roll.

It's fair to say Tesco's Hudl has been a success: the company has sold more than half a million units and is prepping a new model for release later this year. It hasn't been all plain sailing for the supermarket giant though, as some of its Android slates shipped with a display issue that would often cripple the tablet by rendering the screen unresponsive. Tesco, to its credit, has been quick to replace customers' Hudls no questions asked, but it may not need to anymore after it's begun rolling out an Android update that eliminates those exact issues. The company tells us that some updates have passed Google certification and are already hitting affected Hudls, but it could take up to three weeks for the fix to reach everyone.

Apple's Bluetooth-based iBeacon technology looks set to enrich in-store shopping experiences, so it should come as no surprise that two of Britain's biggest supermarkets are looking to see what it's all about. Mirroring pilots by their counterparts in the US, Tesco and Waitrose have commenced trials that deliver location-sensitive notifications and offers to shoppers via their smartphone without the need for GPS. Tesco began trialling in its Chelmsford store in April, issuing messages to customers to remind them to pick up pre-ordered goods. Waitrose started using the technology at its new experimental Swindon store last week, using iBeacon to alert shoppers to promotions when they're near a particular aisle or food counter. Unlike its rival, Tesco has said it will holding off using beacons to issue marketing messages (including promotions) over fears it could scare customers away. Whether or not iBeacons will make their way to more supermarket stores across the UK depends on the outcome of the trials. However, the technology has seen strong early backing, suggesting your local store could one day begin sending you tailor-made notifications and offers.

After accumulating more than 500,000 sales of its first ever own-brand tablet, the Hudl, supermarket giant Tesco is to expand its device line-up by launching a high-powered Android smartphone. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, chief executive Philip Clarke confirmed that the company's upcoming handset will feature hardware comparable to Samsung's Galaxy S5 and, like the Hudl, come preloaded with Tesco apps and services. Speaking of the tablet, Clarke also said Tesco will release a refreshed version of its discount slate, appropriately named the Hudl 2, in September. While the tablet has been priced at the low end of the market at £119 (even less if you used ClubCard vouchers), Tesco's smartphone is expected to command a higher price to match its specifications. That might make the handset less of an impulse buy, but Tesco says it will still price the handset aggressively, allowing shoppers to pop a couple of Android devices into their trolley alongside their bread and milk.

UK supermarket Tesco appears to be on to a winner with its £119 Hudl tablet. After notching 35,000 sales in its first few days on sale, the chain says healthy Christmas demand helped it offload more than 400,000 units in the last three months of 2013. While the figure isn't likely to have heavily impacted sales of Google or Amazon tablets, it's a very healthy start for the Hudl, which aims to keep customers locked to the brand by offering grocery orders and movie downloads via its custom apps. With Tesco set to refresh its Hudl lineup later in 2014, its year-end sales undoubtedly prove customers like being able to pick up a low-cost tablet along with their bread and milk.

One may seem like a paragon of modernity compared to its 94-year-old rival, but the UK's two biggest retailers have a lot in common. For starters, both Amazon and Tesco succeeded far beyond their original missions (bookseller and greengrocer, respectively) to become retail giants. Both understand the value of consumer data and exploit that information mercilessly. Finally, both sell dirt-cheap Android tablets in the hopes of maintaining a foothold in our living rooms, hearts, minds and, most importantly, wallets.

In the UK, there are around 50 million people who don't own a tablet or any other mobile computing device. That's the group of people that Tesco is going after with the Hudl, an Android slate that tech snobs, obsessed with blistering benchmarks, would turn their noses up at. Priced at £119 ($191), but available for £60 ($91) if you redeem Clubcard vouchers, it's not a surprise that the company sold 35,000 units after launch. So, is it better than the Kindle Fire that it seeks to emulate? And when all is said and done, is this the device for which we'll be stuck doing technical support when the in-laws inevitably purchase it? %Gallery-slideshow100871%